Anchor Institutions Task Force News
January 2026
AITF Updates
Values in Action - 2026 Annual Event – November 5 - 10am to 3pm Eastern
Please mark your calendars for November 5 between 10am and 3pm Eastern for AITF’s 2026 Annual Event in which we will further explore the Values in Action theme. This will be our second Annual Event on our current theme, which reinforces AITF’s values – a commitment to place and community; collaboration and partnership, including cross sector collaboration; democracy and democratic practice; social justice and equity, including racial justice and racial equity.
The event will be an opportunity to illustrate how these values are being applied through anchor institution-community partnerships to confront some of our most pressing challenges. As place-based partnerships, these forms of collaboration are taking on issues (e.g. hunger, health) that have global resonance, but are experienced at the local level. The event will also highlight some emerging issues in the anchor field, which will be captured in future newsletter issues. One matter that we are compelled to prioritize at the event and in our work throughout the coming year is communications.
Communications and Storytelling
We have been paying greater attention to messaging on anchor institutions and telling the story of the value of anchor institutions to their communities and to society as a whole. We realize that many do not use the term, “anchor institutions”, especially in the manner we discuss these dynamics in AITF. AITF defines anchor institutions as enduring organizations that remain in their geographic settings and play a vital role in their local communities and economies. There is an objective element of organizations being rooted in their places, which is very important. In AITF, we pay greater attention to the action orientation of being an anchor – how enduring organizations in their localities perceive of their role in the community, how they interact with their neighbors, and how they put AITF’s values into action. Anchor institutions can be stable local assets that can be leveraged for community benefit with intentional democratic and collaborative effort. We must broaden the audience of those familiar with the vital role that anchor institutions can play in strengthening their communities.
Another reason we are prioritizing communications and storytelling is the need to clarify and emphasize the significance of anchor institutions in their communities guided by AITF’s values in our current social and political context. The climate that has been emerging around us in recent years features assaults on our values and the fields that anchor institutions represent – higher education, health care, arts and culture, and others. It is as important as ever that we strengthen and diversify our communications and storytelling strategies to counter misinformation and mischaracterizations at this crucial historical moment.
There is much more to be said on these matters. Stay tuned for additional information on some new resources on communications and storytelling about anchor institutions. We have been enlisting the assistance of communications professionals from our membership to inform our direction. We have some exciting initiatives taking shape as a result of these conversations.
AITF Member Spotlight
Our Member Spotlight series is one important way in which AITF is telling stories about how anchor institutions and community partners are demonstrating AITF’s values in practice. Thanks to Nancy Cantor, President of Hunter College and AITF Co-Chair and Peter Englot, Hunter’s Senior VP of Communications and External Affairs, who also happens to be an influential advisor to AITF on communications and storytelling, for providing our latest Member Spotlight. Please make sure to read about how Hunter College continues to build on a history of producing teachers, social workers, nurses, and others to serve New York City. Currently, Hunter College is strengthening its role as an anchor institution that is both in and of New York City and catalyzing a wide range of innovative community-engaged initiatives that demonstrate AITF’s values in action.
“What does it mean to be not just in, but of, a place? What does it mean to be woven into the fabric of your community? What does it mean to be dedicated to collaboration and collective action locally as a way of striving to realize the vision of a more just and more peaceful world?”
Existential questions like these, which were posed by Hunter College President Nancy Cantor in a recent message to alumni, might be asked by any college or university community that embraces an anchor mission.
Caring for the Future
At Hunter, the place where we start trying to answer them, literally and figuratively, is New York City. Hunter was created as a normal college for women in 1870 by the City of New York, becoming the first institution in the city and possibly the first in any American city to offer free public higher education to women. It was later renamed for founding President Thomas Hunter, an Irish immigrant and education reformer, who insisted that the college be open to any woman who could pass the entrance exam and that science be part of the required curriculum. Given its mission to prepare teachers for the metropolis’ burgeoning population, it is no surprise that its motto from its earliest days has been the outward looking mihi cura futuri: “the care of the future is mine.” Since becoming coed in 1964, Hunter has grown into the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY), a public system of 26 two-year, four-year, and graduate/professional institutions that collectively enroll nearly a quarter of a million students. The vast majority come from this, the largest city in the nation, which also is one of the world’s most diverse, as well as one where the full spectrum of the increasingly skewed socioeconomic spectrum and its concomitant disparities in every aspect of life can be found. So existential questions like those above are not only not idle, they’re urgent.
The preparation of teachers remains one of the fundamental ways that Hunter has long been woven into the fabric of New York City, where today approximately one in every eight public school teachers is a Hunter alum. Among the other ways: Hunter is the source of significant numbers of the social workers, nurses, and allied health professionals who serve New York City, where more than half of all of our 170,000+ alumni continue to live. That includes graduates of programs across the visual and performing arts, biological, physical, and social sciences, and humanities. All of this is reflected in the college’s longstanding mission statement, which includes language that explicitly embraces a symbiotic relationship with the city: “We embrace our setting at the heart of New York City – we seek to draw on its energy, capitalize on its remarkable resources, weave it into the fabric of our teaching, research, and creative expression, and give back to it through our service and citizenship.” A new strategic planning process now under way at Hunter promises to up the ante on this relationship, establishing priorities for investing explicitly in the college’s role as an anchor institution.
Catalyzing Community-Engaged Initiatives
A harbinger of that strategy is a recently announced Hunter College Community Engagement Seed Grants program to “catalyze innovative, community-engaged initiatives rooted in principles of anchor institutions: equity and social justice, democracy and democratic practice, place and community, and collaboration and partnership…that bridge academic and artistic expertise with community wisdom, contributing to positive social impact and generating new understandings and scholarship for academic and public audiences.” With an admittedly modest amount of funding announced to support projects—up to $5,000—a handful of proposals were expected. The depth and breadth of the Hunter faculty’s commitment to this kind of academic work, however, took everyone by surprise when 47 fundable projects involving 90 faculty members and 100 community partners were proposed, representing all five schools (Arts & Sciences, Education, Health Professions, Nursing, and Social Work) and the library, 30 departments within them, and innovative cross-disciplinary collaborations. Among these projects, which will take place in 25 neighborhoods across the city, are the following:
In the South Bronx, Hunter geology and urban policy students will partner with community groups to monitor indoor air quality and promote urban greening for heat and flood mitigation.
In East Harlem, Hunter nutrition and public health students and residents will collaborate on wellness pop-ups bringing free, culturally responsive health screenings and nutrition-education events to the neighborhood.
In West Harlem, Hunter social work students will work with an organization to better the well-being of children by strengthening relations among parents and foster-care givers.
Across the city, Hunter education students, faculty, and staff are partnering with public schools in a Youth Educator Program to help diverse high school students explore teaching through early college courses, mentorship, and certification support.
This program is overseen by one of Hunter’s most experienced, community-engaged leaders, Jenny Tuten, Professor of Literacy Education, who is the newly named Special Advisor to the Provost on Community Engagement and Public Partnerships. It is no co-incidence that Jenny also is a member of the AITF Anchor Fellows Class of 2026. Regarding the importance of publicly engaged scholarship, generally, and this new seed grant program specifically, Jenny recently observed: “This work positions Hunter not just as a participant in the city’s civic life, but as a co-creator of solutions with communities…The grants are a disciplined strategy for aligning teaching, research, and public service with the needs of New York City.”
President Nancy Cantor contextualizes today’s anchor work at Hunter as building on “a long tradition of publicly engaged scholarship.” She sees the seed grant program, in particular, as “catalyzing great work and, we hope, will encourage even more, the sum of which is paradigmatic of what it means for Hunter College to be an anchor institution in New York City, partnering with local organizations across sectors and residents to address local instances of challenges that are actually faced globally.”
Other Resources
Anchor Fellows
Our Anchor Fellows Program continues to be a vital component of AITF’s work. The Fellows have been provided an immersive learning experience designed to strengthen their pathways as anchor leaders into the future. Our latest cohort is about to begin their annual experience. As you know, we rely on AITF members to nominate future prospective Fellows. We are pleased to announce our latest call for applications in order to identify the 2027 cohort. Many of our Fellows have become active participants in AITF, and their voices and experiences are influencing the evolution of the anchor field.
Publications
Our Leadership Guide series has been making informative and stimulating contributions to our understanding of the role of anchor institutions in strengthening communities through democratic partnerships. We produced the third volume in the series last year. We are now seeking essays from AITF members on leadership matters relevant to anchor institution-community partnerships. We require these essays to take into account AITF’s Values in Action theme. Please let us know if you wish to submit an essay. We hope to release volume 4 at the end of the year. Also let us know if you wish to have your and your partners’ work featured in a future Member Profile in this newsletter. The profile will return in the next newsletter. This is a significant way in which we will highlight the Values in Action theme in practice at the community level throughout the year.
Download the AITF Leadership Guide, Third Edition
AITF Subgroups
Overall, we look forward to engaging with you over the course of 2026. Remember that there are many ways to be involved in AITF. Our Subgroups have been among the most vital forms of activity in AITF. As we have continued to experience some difficult barriers to progress in the field, Subgroups have been spaces for mutual encouragement, learning, and sharing. These discussions have generated stories of resilience and helped shape many aspects of AITF’s work. Finally, stay tuned for some noticeable advances in AITF’s approach to storytelling, as we are beginning a new series of discussions to enhance how we tell the story of the contributions of anchor institutions to the communities in which they reside.
Learn More About AITF Subgroups
Resources from the Field
Exploring Equitable Community-Campus Relationships
Through interrogation of contemporary practice, chapter authors examine the many ways in which equity is deliberately centered in community relationships, practices, research, and pedagogies, thereby accounting for how equity is defined, perceived, and shaped across diverse cultures, perspectives, and institutions. With a focus on relationship-building as a pathway to meaningful community engagement, contributors reflect on successes, obstacles, and moments of vulnerability, describing how relationships were initiated and lessons learned to ensure equitable values were centered and upheld. The text concludes with a meaningful discussion on the implications of these practices and the future of this work: equity continues to be a foundational element of any community–campus partnership.
Universities and Community Schools
This issue of Universities and Community Schools highlights the work of University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) across the country, as well as the important learning that is occurring through local implementation and across the UACS National Network. The articles were written by 37 individuals representing 14 institutions actively participating in the network. Their stories showcase local, regional, and state-wide efforts across institution types and geographic regions. They discuss UACS partnerships with individual schools, entire districts, and statewide agencies in rural, suburban, and urban settings. They also involve various types of higher education institutions, including public and private universities, HBCUs, R1 universities, four-year colleges, and community colleges. Some are in the beginning stages of establishing partnerships, while others are building upon many years of engagement. They serve as powerful on-the-ground examples of the mutual benefit that can occur from democratic partnerships between universities and their local schools.
Mind the Gap: Connecting Community Benefit and Patient Billing Leaders to Improve Health and Financial Outcomes
Over the last year Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) and Undue Medical Debt collaborated to engage health system revenue cycle, community benefit and population health leaders to align strategies in helping patients avoid medical debt. Through the learning cohort, Mind the Gap: Connecting Community Benefit and Patient Billing, participants worked to forge new connections, better understand roles and data access and develop shared strategies and language to drive change.
Kaiser Permanente Impact Purchasing Case Study
Examines how Kaiser Permanente aligns its operational activities with community health goals through its anchor mission. In 2023, the health system spent more than $22.2 billion on goods and services; an economic impact analysis estimates this procurement supported over 176,000 jobs, generated $11.8 billion in income, and contributed $3.4 billion in federal and state tax revenue.
An Introduction to Inclusive & Equitable Community Engagement (Online Training)
News and Articles
Cooking class at Lutheran Settlement House in Fishtown helping seniors eat healthier
Lutheran Settlement House in Philadelphia is offering an art-and-cooking program for older adults that pairs nutrition education with creative activities to support healthier eating and social connection in the local community.
Dancing Students Toward Health Care Career Opportunities
A University of Pennsylvania initiative uses dance and movement workshops to engage students from underrepresented communities and introduce them to healthcare career pathways, positioning the institution’s outreach efforts as part of broader strategies to expand workforce development and diversify local health professions.
How colleges can overcome their crisis of confidence
This article explores the need for universities to deepen their engagement with local communities in the context of enrollment uptick across Maryland’s 11 public universities.
Hunter College Seeds High-Impact Community Partnerships
Hunter College has launched a seed grant program supporting 47 faculty‑led community partnerships across New York City, with projects in areas such as health screenings, air quality monitoring, education, and social services. The initiative involves collaborations with local organizations and residents in multiple neighborhoods, reflecting the institution’s role in connecting academic resources with community‑identified needs.
NASA names Lykens Valley Children's Museum as 'Community Anchor' for STEM education
The Lykens Valley Children's Museum in Dauphin County, named a NASA TEAM II Community Anchor, earns a grant for a mobile planetarium, boosting STEM access. According to the museum, the TEAM II (Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions) program, administered by NASA, supports organizations that connect learners of all ages to NASA’s missions, discoveries, and workforce pathways, particularly in communities that have historically had limited access to high-quality STEM opportunities.
NC Science Museums grant program awards $2.4 million to 58 institutions across the state
As part of the North Carolina Science Museums Grant Program, 58 institutions across the state have been awarded a total of $2.4 million in grants with a primary goal of enhancing STEM education opportunities for the public, particularly in low resource communities.
Research & Publications
Do research universities recession-proof their regions? Evidence from state flagship college towns
Using synthetic differences-in-differences models, this article studies whether U.S. counties containing state flagship universities experienced resiliency via lower unemployment rates during the past three U.S. recessions.
The value of economic and community development anchors
This article highlights distinctions among types of anchors used in economic and community development, noting that place-bound institutions provide more durable support for local economies. The research identifies key features like visibility, engagement, and utility that contribute to an anchor’s strength and offers insight into how institutions can align their role with community and regional development goals.
Sustainable libraries models for financial resilience and impact
This article argues that achieving long-term economic sustainability requires libraries to move beyond reactive austerity measures and adopt proactive, strategic models that build financial resilience while amplifying demonstrable community impact.
View Marga Inc's AITF Publications
If you have updates about your work, resources, or articles that you would like to share with the AITF network, please email Mala Coomar at mala.c@margainc.com.
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